I've been browsing the forum and sipping at a Blandy's 5 year Malmsey. (Poor Clarence!)Older is better, but this is absolutely sippable, even though I'm near the bottom of the bottle.I have an on-line friend Pepe who lives in Madrid, and he sent me a recipe of his wife's for a chicken saute with Pedro Ximenes sherry. It's really good. Much better (IMO) than Pedro Ximenes all by itself, which tastes like alcoholic raisins.I've even been known to put 10 year Tawny into a steak sauce.I must be weird or something, but I really do like stickies.I did have a "hot" wine in the Azores that was supposed to be like Madeira. All I can really say is that it was <ahem!> interesting, and I'm glad I didn't buy any.

Just a quickie to say that I also love sweet wines. From a liqueur muscat or muscadelle from Rutherglen through such oddities as Pacherenc de Vic Bilh and Jurançon moelleux, to Saussignac and Monbazillac and the other French sweet wines, and thence to the Auslesen from the Moselle and Rhine, to the finest ausbruch and TBA from Austria and of course Tokaji Aszu from a really good grower in Hungary.

Love 'em all and reserve my highest TB accolade for them, a really good one qualifies as "Mega Yum". Dry wines can vary between yum, and yum yum yum yum, on the other hand.

And talking of Blandy's, I used to know a scion of the family - Auriol by name, many years ago.

Some consider it a particularly appropriate wine for Christmas, too, observing that the common abbreviation, "PX," resembles the Greek letters Chi (which looks like an "X" but is sounded as "CH") and Rho (which looks like a "P" but stands for "R") ... in other words, the Chi-Ro of ancient Christianity, "CHR," an abbreviation and symbol of Christ.

There's no evidence that Pedro Ximenez was named with this in mind, and there's not likely much truth in the old story that the grape was brought to Spain from the Rhine, of all places, by a traveler named Peter Siemens, whose name the Spaniards rendered as, well, Pedro Ximenez. I'd place its etymology in category "unknown," and welcome information from anyone who has a better, verifiable story.

I like the story about PX being derived from Chi Rho as being the most elegant - even if it is not verifiable - or even untrue.

There is very little Pedro Ximénez actually grown in Jerez. Nearly all of it is "imported" from Montilla but matured in Jerez. This is allowed as that was the practice before Jerez split from Montilla (so I have been told) and the practice grandfathered.

Robin reminds us of the classic PX and vanilla ice cream combo. "Pour a healthy drop atop a scoop of fine quality vanilla ice cream, and dig into the best grown-up sundae you could imagine."

I've invented another one which I'll have tomorrow.

Pour a healthy drop of PX onto steaming hot porridge. Just the thing to begin a day destined to be ended with PX on vanilla ice cream.